Acts of courage in these trying times

The time has come once again for a great American icon, Rosa Parks, to be rightly honored for the pivotal role she played at the start of the historic civil rights movement.

And once again, the Rosa Parks "Quiet Courage" Committee, which I founded and organized in 2006 and serve as chairman, is preparing for the countywide and the citywide celebration of the life and legacy of a woman of true courage and dignity whose act of defiance on Dec. 1, 1955, changed this nation forever.

This year's local tribute will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday at Mount Olive AME Church at 721 SE 8th St., and of course, the entire community is invited to attend the celebration.

The very appropriate theme is "Lest We Forget: To Miss Rosa With Love." Both city and county proclamations will be presented and read designating Dec. 1, 2007, as "Rosa Parks Day" in Gainesville and Alachua County.

Many local admirers who have attended annual celebrations since 2005 will again be on hand as Miss Rosa, as she was affectionately called, will be honored in song, words and tributes and especially with the giving of special awards in her name and memory to adult and youth leaders.

Unlike last year, when just one "Quiet Courage" award was given to local civil rights pioneer, Charles S. Chestnut III, three awards will be given this year.

In 1964, three brave, young black high school students — Joel Buchanan, LaVon Wright Bracy and Sandra Williams Cummings — led by the Rev. Thomas Wright, then the pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist Church and the father of young LaVon, walked with their heads held high into Gainesville High School, thus becoming the first black students to set foot into the then all-white school.

These courageous young people, now successful adults and leaders in their own right, deserve recognition for their brave stand 43 years ago and for making history that is sometimes overlooked, especially in our schools today.

I have to wonder how many black high school students in 2007, or students in general, know what happened at Gainesville High in 1964 or to Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955?

I first wrote about Rosa Parks in advance of the 2005 memorial celebration, which was held shortly after her death in October of that year. That column mostly dealt with her life, background, and the events that led up to her brave stand on that Montgomery bus in 1955.

My column this year is written with somewhat of a heavy heart as I lament about all that has happened, not only since Miss Rosa's death, but in just the past few months alone across the nation and even right here in the state of Florida.

The ever-present ugly spectre of hatred and racism has risen to cause division, violence and mistrust between people of different colors. There have been protests, marches and court hearings such as, for example, the Martin Lee Anderson case, which many have said had strong racist overtones.

And just recently in Bradford County, the county high school was shut down because of deep racial tensions between black and white students at Bradford High School in Starke. And one of the things that triggered this tension was the displaying of a noose on the car of a black student, as well as a tobacco spittle also put on the car of a black student. Is this 2007 or have we gone back in time to the days of where nooses and violence were a common occurrence?

The national noose-displaying incidents aside, and one incident is one too many, I will be appearing before the local leaders of the Florida Legislature on Tuesday to ask them to establish hate crime laws in Florida that would punish, according to the law, those who knowingly and with racist and hateful intentions, victimize and terrorize by the displaying of nooses, burning crosses, swastikas, or other known symbols of racism and hatred, or do physical harm to anyone because of race, creed or national origin.

Although as a minister of the gospel, I personally cannot condone homosexual behavior or lifestyles, I also must include hate crimes based on sexual orientation. Why? I recall the tragic case of Matthew Sheppard, who, after being brutality beaten, was left hanging on a fence in the freezing cold until he died because of his sexual orientation.

Hate is hate is hate, no matter who it is directed at, and no human being deserves to be the victim of that kind of violence and brutality.

Finally, as for all of these nooses that have suddenly been displayed, the message is very clear. Like a boomerang that always comes back to its original starting point, the message here is that racism and hatred, personified in the forms of nooses, have returned to intimidate and strike fear in the hearts of good and decent people.

The nooses have returned as a reminder of an evil and violent past full of images of hooded Klansmen, Jim Crow laws, with restrooms and water fountains labled ‘‘White’’ and ‘‘Colored,’’ signs that read "Negro entrance only," flesh-tearing fire hoses and police dogs turned on American citizens who happen to have dark skin, all citizens who were protesting for something called equality, which should have been theirs at birth.

Those were the messages then, and sadly, one of those, the noose, has returned again to send unwanted messages of hatred and racism.

And what should be the response of good people who love justice and freedom? What strong message should be sent, even in the face of a noose left in plain sight? I will share a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to provide an answer:

‘‘When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn, good men must build. When evil shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men would seek to perpetuate the status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice."

The Rev. Milford L. Griner is president and social justice chairman of the Alachua County Ministerial Alliance and also the founder, chairman and organizer of the Rosa Parks "Quiet Courage" Committee.

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